The Other Side of Life (Book #1, Cyberpunk Elven Trilogy) (22 page)

“
Where’s Leticia?” Nin
seemed to ask, when he met Anya’s eyes for a brief
second.

There was a panel of square grids on one
side of the wall. Anya placed a hand on one of the square pieces in
the corner, nearest to her, curious with the material of the
panel.

“
Love and romance,” a
recorded voice came on.

Nin and Dresan took a step backwards, moving
in towards Anya, when the room suddenly transformed before their
eyes—the formerly elegant and comfortable interior design had
folded and shifted and turned into faintly surreal red and pink
themed flooring and décor.

“
Thirty-two styles,” Nin
muttered, impressed with the house’s settings, and losing his focus
momentarily. He knew Julius was somewhere in the house. But
where?

Anya noted the panel, which had four rows
and eight columns of square pieces. She couldn’t resist pressing
another button.

“
Modern minimalist,” said
the voice.

This time, the interior design changed into
a contemporary furniture set design, with deluxe modpod egg chairs,
and elegant leather sofas. There was still no sign of anyone else
on this level of the house.

The elves moved with stealth and
synchronicity, like the highly-trained, specially equipped snipers
of a sentinel SWAT team. Anya stayed behind the two elves, as they
moved step by step across the massive living room. Windows lined
one side of the room, where the view opened up to a private
backyard with a pool and spa. Anya could see why Leticia had once
described Julius’s home as “a perfect move in magical retreat.”

Anya knew there was an office somewhere in
the house, but she didn’t know where it was, until Nin and Dresan
went right into it. She could tell from the flexible OLED wide
screen which allowed for net-surfing and computer usage at a
larger-than-life experience, pull-out extra keyboard panels, and
other lavish technological furnishings in the room.

Xenith,
Nin thought, as he recognized the logo on some
stationery to one side of the table. He looked around the room.
There was no other door, apart from the one they had entered, that
connected the office to another room.

Anya went over to the bookcase, which was
crammed with scientific and medical journals, searching for
anything that could be some kind of clue. She remembered some of
the video games she played during her spare time. Sometimes,
there’d be a secret door behind a bookcase. Such as the one in
Julius’s office, perhaps?

A photo frame of Julius and his father,
standing in front of a tall tree, sat on one of the shelves. The
photo caught Nin’s eye, just as something clattered upon the
ground—a slim black-and-silver tube.

“
Nin!” Anya called out. She
tried to kick aside the tube, but it didn’t budge the
slightest.

Nin reacted a second too late—he swung
around and fired a shot, which shattered an antique vase in the
walkway as a shadowy figure swerved back right at the last moment.
Nin fired another shot, which would have hit his target, if it
weren’t for the instant effects of the grayish-white plumes of
smoke the black-silver tube emitted.

Anya sank to the ground first, spluttering
for air. A pulsating, burning sensation surged from the back of her
brain, right out to the eyes. She saw the elves hit the ground
too—Nin’s hand grabbed the top part of his shirt, as he tried to
breathe through it, to offset some of the smoke. That image, like a
screen capture of a nightmare in real life, was the last thing she
remembered, along with drowning in the utter hopelessness of hope
itself.

* * *

When Anya came to, the first thing she saw
was a maroon jacket, casually thrown over a chair. The right side
near the pocket was charred—where Nin’s plasma gun had hit.

“
This is my real office.
Lab, rather.”

Anya knew that voice. The intonation and
articulation were familiar, though the tone was slightly different.
The voice seemed less…restrained…like it belonged to a cold,
methodical, calculative person who knew exactly what he was
doing.

That person was Julius Lycata. He held a
vial of freshly drawn blood, deep red in color, then placed it
alongside a row of similarly-hued test tubes on the counter behind
him. Charts and graphs were scattered over the surface of the
counter. They were the detailed records of financial forecasts and
reports.

Anya blinked her eyes a few times, craning
her neck upward to the ceiling, adjusting to the sickly, florescent
panels of light. The stabbing sensation that had been so intense
and excruciating for the duration it lasted, was now gone. Anya
realized her hands were tied, when the fine but strong lines of
metallic rope bit into her skin. They caused a sharp, stinging
sensation, the harder she struggled to free herself.

“
I see,” a muffled voice
finally responded, in answer to Julius.

Anya turned a shade paler, when she saw the
Elven trio, a few paces away. Their hands and feet were bound in
similar fashion to Anya’s, though their bonds were tighter. Dresan
and Tavia drifted in and out of consciousness, at the far corner in
the room.

She gasped when she saw Nin, who was wearing
an oxygen mask. His sweaty, shirtless body was hooked up to some
machines behind him, one of which displayed his internal organs on
a screen. Angry red and darkish bruise marks covered the inner side
of Nin’s arm. Anya knew then that the metal in the rope wasn’t just
an ordinary kind.

“
It’s the same,” Julius
muttered, looking at the screen of Nin’s internal system, and
comparing it with another screen to the side. “Just more
efficient…faster…cleaner…faster…and stronger? You regenerate
fast.”

Julius gestured to a bloody knife behind
Nin. Anya noticed a fresh, faint scar on Nin’s left forearm. Nin
kept quiet. Without looking, he knew the other screen which Julius
was studying showed the internal system of a human body.

“
Your skin healed over so
fast…” Julius continued, “…when I gave you a little cut for a
test.”

Anya had the feeling that something was
stuck in her throat.

Julius had turned himself a little, so that
he was facing Nin. He held a slim, silver voice recorder in his
hand. A ‘click’ went off when he pushed the play button—Anya felt
like a shard had entered her ear.

Nin sat quietly, as he listened to the
recording of his own low, expressionless voice, unrecognizable to
him at first. He was answering questions as though it were a
routine, and had been powerless to do otherwise. The voice asking
the questions was clinical, reflecting the detached objectiveness
of scientific inquiry.

“
Do you have all the pieces
of the parchment?”

“
Yes.”

“
Could you read me the
first?”

“
Let not the eye fool thee,
for there she stands, ever renewing the Earth.”

“
And the
second?”

“
Redroot and diamond dust.
One part moonshine. One part Elvenhumankind.”

“
And the third?”

“
In your wanderings and
dealings, neglect not the Other Side of Life.”

“
Elvenhumankind is the
mingling of human and elven blood, correct?”

“
Yes.”

“
What is the
symbol?”

“
I don’t know.”

Julius hit the stop button. “I got what
‘redroot,’ ‘diamond dust,’ and ‘moonshine’ were from”—Julius looked
over at Dresan. He fast-forwarded the tape to that portion of his
interrogation.

“
What is the red
root?”

“
A deep root from the Tree
of Life.”

“
What is diamond
dust?”

“
Stars that fall from the
night sky.”

“
What is
moonshine?”

“
A moonbeam captured by a
crystal light pendant.”

Julius put the recorder down when Leticia
walked in with a parchment piece in her hand. She gave him a kiss
as he slid an arm around her sinuous waist. Leticia looked upon him
with a gaze that said she had eyes only for him.

“
That’s what you did with
Leticia.” Anya blurted out. Clearly, Julius was the real
psychopath, that made Anya’s “psycho” ex look like an amateur. She
would have tackled him herself were it not for the ropes holding
her back. “What drug is that?”

“
Something that’s used in
hypnotic therapy,” Julius coolly told her. “Works like a charm,
doesn’t it?”

“
Do you actually see
something in the guy you’re with?” Anya spat it out at Leticia.
“Are you crazy? He has this secret lab in his own house and
you—”

“
She’s just seen it today.”
Julius cut her off mid-sentence, as he studied the parchment
Leticia had brought him. “I could use you as a test subject, for a
new advanced formula sleeping pill…if you don’t keep
quiet.”

Anya didn’t know if Leticia was under the
influence of yet another one of Julius’s drugs. He had free access
to whatever he wanted, since his family did own Xenith. Anya
wondered how easy it must be for him to get people to do as he
wished.

Julius walked over to Nin with the
parchment. “Is this the same copy as yours?”

Julius removed the black oxygen mask from
Nin’s face. Nin was careful to keep his features under control. The
slightest twitch or blink of an eye, if he lied, might be picked up
by Julius. Julius’s defining feature, from the first moment Nin saw
him, were the bluish-gray empty depths of his eyes, devoid of any
real empathy. Nin knew he was a shrewd observer, a trait that
helped Julius excel in the fields of both business and science.

“
It looks just like the one
we have,” Nin answered, taking in all the details of the parchment.
“Apart from the language. This is written in Latin.”

There was one more
difference. Julius’s parchment was almost an exact replica of the
Elven parchment—except for a symbol at the base of the tree, which
stood in place of the
o, i, l
lettering of the Elven version. Nin recognized the
symbol looked familiar to an ancient woodcut titled the
Iaagines Coeli Septentrionale,
which translated to, “Figures of the northern sky
with the twelve signs of the Zodiac.”

“
This symbol.” Julius
pointed to it, tapping on the parchment. “What is it? And what are
these numbers?” Julius’s parchment contained the circle at the
bottom of the illustration, with the ‘2, 1, 7’ numbers as
well.

Nin looked at the Zodiac symbol, of the
classical figures of the Zodiac encircling a golden circle, from
Aries the Ram, to Libra the Scales, and the Piscean fishes.

“
The circle of numbers is
an Elven seal,” Nin lied through his teeth, keeping his trademark
cool. “And the other symbol represents the Zodiac.” Nin wasn’t
lying about the Zodiac part, but he didn’t know what the numbers
meant.

“
An Elven seal…” said
Julius, watching Nin intently.

“
Like an ancient…copyright
notice, for an artist.” Nin tried to piece together the numbers in
the circle. “Are you a Taurus?” he asked Julius.

Julius stared at him blankly, surprised at
the question. “Yes, I am.”

Nin shared his thoughts, leading Julius on.
“2, 1, 7—the date that the parchment was made. Also, Varian
Gilbreth’s time of birth…or the numbers of our Zodiac signs.
Coincidence?”

Julius frowned. “Which is it?”

“
All of the above, I
think.”

Nin mused about the
qualities of the Zodiac. Julius said he was a Taurus, the second
sign of the Zodiac. Anya was an Aries, the first sign. Nin was a
Libran.
2, 1, 7.

“
Taurus,” Nin said to
Julius. “The one who brings prestige to the business, the one who
has immense perseverance…”

Julius gave a short laugh. “Zodiac is
hogwash.”

Nin sat back, a faint smile forming on his
lips. “Isn’t what I said true, of a Taurus?”

Julius rolled his eyes slightly. “Oh, it’s
all so…general.”

Nin gave a nod,
understanding the history of astrology.
Once upon a time, in a less scientific age, astrology was a
respected study.

“Despite its
detractors,” Nin said slowly, “astrology is based on ancient
principles, and used by the learned for greater insight not only
into the future, but into the soul. It’s not just pieces of
superstitious nonsense.”

Julius tapped his
fingers on the tabletop beside him, unconvinced.

Nin waited a few tentative moments before
asking, “Where did you get your parchment from?”

Anya took note of the odd pairings of
everyone in the room. There was Dresan and Tavia, who were out cold
in the corner. Anya was sure Julius had drawn at least a pint of
blood from each of them, though she wasn’t sure if Nin had been
subjected too. There was Leticia and herself, supposed “best
friends forever.” One was being held hostage as a result of the
other’s boyfriend. The third pair was Julius and Nin, who matched
each other in terms of calmness, unruffled composure, and
razor-sharp intelligence. Those shared qualities seemed to lend a
certain amount of eerie camaraderie, in the way they interacted
with each other.

“
Varian Gilbreth,” Julius
answered, leaning back against the edge of the table. “You broke
into his vault. Pretty impressive.”